Reading Practice: Sentences

This unit advances from simple sentences to connected text. You will read short paragraphs in fidel with romanized support, practice recognizing sentence structure in Amharic script, and develop reading comprehension of multi-sentence passages.

Reading Material

Third Consonant Set

Consonant	1st (ə)	2nd (u)	3rd (i)	4th (a)	5th (e)	6th (ı)	7th (o)
d	də (ደ)	du (ዱ)	di (ዲ)	da (ዳ)	de (ዴ)	dı (ድ)	do (ዶ)
g	gə (ገ)	gu (ጉ)	gi (ጊ)	ga (ጋ)	ge (ጌ)	gı (ግ)	go (ጎ)
k	kə (ከ)	ku (ኩ)	ki (ኪ)	ka (ካ)	ke (ኬ)	kı (ክ)	ko (ኮ)
f	fə (ፈ)	fu (ፉ)	fi (ፊ)	fa (ፋ)	fe (ፌ)	fı (ፍ)	fo (ፎ)
z	zə (ዘ)	zu (ዙ)	zi (ዚ)	za (ዛ)	ze (ዜ)	zı (ዝ)	zo (ዞ)

Passage 1: yəne bet (My House)

Fidel: የኔ ቤት ትልቅ ነው። ሁለት ክፍል አለው። አንድ ክፍል የመኝታ ክፍል ነው። ሌላው ክፍል የመብላት ክፍል ነው። ቤቱ ከገበያ ቅርብ ነው።

Romanized: yəne bet tilliK new. hulət kifil aləw. and kifil yəməñta kifil new. lelaw kifil yəməblat kifil new. betu kə-gəbeya Kirb new.

Translation: My house is big. It has two rooms. One room is a bedroom. The other room is a dining room. The house is close to the market.

Passage 2: yəne guwaděñña (My Friend)

Fidel: የኔ ጓደኛ ስሙ ከበደ ነው። ከበደ ረጅም ነው። በትምህርት ቤት ውስጥ ይሠራል። መምህር ነው። በየቀኑ ወደ ሥራ ይሄዳል።

Romanized: yəne gwadəñña sımu kəbədə new. kəbədə rəjjim new. bə-timhirt bet wısT yisəral. məmhir new. bə-yəKənu wədə sira yihedal.

Translation: My friend’s name is Kebede. Kebede is tall. He works in a school. He is a teacher. Every day he goes to work.

Sentence Structure in Script

Amharic sentences in fidel follow the same Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order as spoken Amharic. Key features of written Amharic:

Feature	Description	Example
Word spacing	Words are separated by spaces	የኔ ቤት (yəne bet)
Sentence marker	The double dot ። (huləT nəTb) marks sentence end	ነው። (new.)
Question marker	The question mark ? is used	ምን ነው? (mın new?)
No capitals	Fidel has no uppercase/lowercase distinction	—

Key Vocabulary

Amharic	Fidel	English
tilliK	ትልቅ	big, large
kifil	ክፍል	room, section
yəməñta	የመኝታ	of sleeping, bedroom (adj.)
yəməblat	የመብላት	of eating, dining (adj.)
lelaw	ሌላው	the other
gwadəñña	ጓደኛ	friend
məmhir	መምህር	teacher
bə-yəKənu	በየቀኑ	every day
gəbeya	ገበያ	market
Kirb	ቅርብ	near, close
timhirt bet	ትምህርት ቤት	school
sira	ሥራ	work

Reading Comprehension Questions

On Passage 1:

1. betu tilliK new woyis tinniš new? (Is the house big or small?) → tilliK new
2. sint kifil aləw? (How many rooms does it have?) → hulət kifil aləw
3. betu ke-mın Kirb new? (The house is close to what?) → kə-gəbeya Kirb new

On Passage 2:

4. yəne gwadəñña man yibal? (What is my friend called?) → kəbədə yibal
5. kəbədə mın yisəral? (What does Kebede do?) → məmhir new, bə-timhirt bet yisəral
6. bə-yəKənu yet yihedal? (Where does he go every day?) → wədə sira yihedal

Writing Practice

Exercise 1: Sentence Completion

Fill in the missing fidel word:

Sentence with gap	Missing word	Complete sentence
የኔ ___ ትልቅ ነው	ቤት	የኔ ቤት ትልቅ ነው
ከበደ ___ ነው	መምህር	ከበደ መምህር ነው
ቤቱ ከ___ ቅርብ ነው	ገበያ	ቤቱ ከገበያ ቅርብ ነው
___ ክፍል አለው	ሁለት	ሁለት ክፍል አለው

Exercise 2: Paragraph Writing

Using the vocabulary from this unit, write a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) about your house or your friend. Use both fidel and romanized forms. Model:

yəne bet tinniš new. and kifil aləw. kə-sira Kirb new. (የኔ ቤት ትንሽ ነው። አንድ ክፍል አለው። ከሥራ ቅርብ ነው።)

Exercise 3: Script-to-Speech

Read each fidel sentence aloud, then write the romanized form:

Fidel	Romanized
ይሄ ሰው ነው	yihe sew new
ውሃ ሞላ	wıha mola
ቤቱ ትልቅ ነው	betu tilliK new
ከበደ ረጅም ነው	kəbədə rəjjim new

Cultural Notes

The Hulet Netb (።)

The Amharic sentence-ending punctuation mark ። (huləT nəTb, literally “two dots”) functions like the period/full stop in English. It consists of four dots arranged in a square pattern. Amharic also uses ፡ (nəTb, single colon-like mark) as a word separator in traditional texts, though modern Amharic increasingly uses spaces between words instead. When reading older texts, religious manuscripts, or formal government documents, you may encounter the traditional word-separator style.